About good Venue development ideas and how they can die in Ideascale

[SteveGam]

What makes you think they "die" in ideascale? Having met many of the Digi live sound people I will bet Sheldon & crew read every ideascale post. Keeping in mind that the hardware is a fixed boundary, not everything brought to ideascale can just be added via a software update. Just like some people like Macs and other like PC's, no console is perfect for everyone and there will always be other manufacturers to chose from. Despite it's minimal growing pains, I find the main reason for buying them still unchanged, the sound quality. I can't wait to see the next generation of console from Digi.

[digidesigner]

Originally Posted by SteveGam

What makes you think they "die" in ideascale?

I don't think "32 auxiliary busses, Smaart inside Venue and Aux bus name on input page" are truly the 3 most important things Venue needs and I think there are good ideas that get bombed away by the oldschool users. Of course there are other products to choose from but Avid needs all the customers they can get.

[Sheldon Radford]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to check in and let folks know that I've been following this thread with interest.

IdeaScale is one of many tools we use when assessing what new features or types of products to bring to market. We also spend a lot of time talking with end users, reviewing forums such as the DUC, and polling our experienced sales staff. All of this info is considered when it comes time to plan the next release.

IdeaScale is cool because it is a public forum for ideas, searchable/sortable, and allows for voting (both for or against an idea), which helps give a sense of priority. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the highest priority items are always addressed in perfect sequence, but it does give some guidance as to the needs of a broad group of users.

The other thing that IdeaScale reflects is the mix of ideas from current users versus prospective users. This is why an idea like “more busses” might rise to the top, as users think “I’d use the console if only it did this…”, while other ideas aren’t voted on as often because users already familiar with the console have found workarounds.

There are a ton of great ideas already on IdeaScale, and please do keep them coming. As the list grows it will likely need to be re-organized in some way to make it more manageable to review. We’re open to your ideas on how to do this, so let us know!

Sheldon

[Limelight]

Thanks Sheldon, we all appreciate the work you guys do very much. I think something that would be kinda cool for all us current users and prospective users alike would be to know what you guys have in the works. Call it a teaser or something to spark our interest. For those of us that use the consoles on a weekly/daily basis, it would give us something to greatly look forward to. And for those making a decision between Avid, Digico, Yamaha, etc., knowing what was in the works might make someone who loves xyz about this company because they have this thing that Avid doesnt, reconsider buying Avid if they knew what was comming up. Just a thought, but I know hearing a teaser of what's to come would make me even more excited about my decision in purchasing our SC48!! And, it would let others know that some of the ideas on the IdeaScale will be coming to fruition.

Chris

[Scott Fahy]

Originally Posted by digidesigner

I don't think "32 auxiliary busses, Smaart inside Venue and Aux bus name on input page" are truly the 3 most important things Venue needs and I think there are good ideas that get bombed away by the oldschool users. Of course there are other products to choose from but Avid needs all the customers they can get.

Not to you but to some people they are items that can impact a buying decision for a product. What your asking is something that is important to you but not as important to others.

[Sheldon Radford]

Hi Chris,

This is one of the great conundrums of product development, which all companies face. It's a balance between keeping the excitement and momentum building for a product, without inadvertently stalling sales (just think of what happened to iPhone 3GS sales when the iPhone4 was leaked a few months ahead of schedule...), or worse: over-promising and under-delivering. These are fast-moving times, and a lot can change between the start and end of a development cycle. Not to mention there are rules and regulations about what a publicly-held company (which Avid is) can report about future product plans...but that's a whole other story.

The best guidance is to look at our track records for past releases and form your own thoughts as to when a release might be available and what it might contain. The IdeaScale site actually helps with this a bit, as you're able to see many of the same feature requests we do, and how the public at large thinks they rank. This is important info that helps guide our decisions.

So mix up the tea leaves, dust off the crystal ball and stay tuned!

Sheldon

[digidesigner]

Originally Posted by Scott Fahy

Not to you but to some people they are items that can impact a buying decision for a product. What your asking is something that is important to you but not as important to others.

Yes you are absolutely right, for some they are important, mainly for the top 20 touring acts in US I believe. I'm not talking only behalf of myself but for a bunch of people I have sold these consoles to or behalf of people that have chosen something else as the features have not been there or there are unnecessary restrictions that are not hardware limited, like 18 track limitation on FireWire recording - M7's can be bought for much less than SC48's and can be used to record all the 48 inputs. I personally have not seen a person who would have said "Oh this thing only has 24 auxes - I cannot live with that". Of course that does not mean someone does not need more, but there are simple things that can be "fixed" with existing products to have more people interested and more cash flowing in for Avid to get things going better. You probably missed the fact I'm working with the reseller. Also I'm trying have this conversation going as this forum needs to liven up a bit :)

Sheldon, nice to see you are checking things out, sometimes it seems Avid guys hang around Gearslutz and ProSoundWeb more than they do on the DUC

[bop]

What about a password to unlock Lock-mode, would come in handy. Can be set as a custom general password to all users.

[digidesigner]

Originally Posted by bop

What about a password to unlock Lock-mode, would come in handy. Can be set as a custom general password to all users.

Actually this is an old and pretty poplar request from users that would like to keep their tricks private and leave the desk with peace of mind. Sheldon, this shouldn't be too hard to implement? Even Yamaha 01V has this, actually very nicely implemented by selecting channels - 4 digit code = 4 channels selects.

[Kenmillerjr]

Originally Posted by digidesigner

Actually this is an old and pretty poplar request from users that would like to keep their tricks private and leave the desk with peace of mind. Sheldon, this shouldn't be too hard to implement? Even Yamaha 01V has this, actually very nicely implemented by selecting channels - 4 digit code = 4 channels selects.

...or function keys, heck...a keyboard is right there...or maybe a iLok similar situation, which instead of an iLok, the console saves a authorization file on a jump drive and you have to insert the jump drive to unlock the desk. Just a couple of ideas...